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I got a Pink Floyd question.......

S

SirFshAlot

Elite Member
Anyone know the meaning of the lyrics to Wish You Were Here?




<< Wish You Were Here (Waters, Gilmour)

So, so you think you can tell Heaven from Hell,
blue skies from pain.
Can you tell a green field from a cold steel rail?
A smile from a veil?
Do you think you can tell?

And did they get you to trade your heroes for ghosts?
Hot ashes for trees?
Hot air for a cool breeze? Cold comfort for change?
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war
for a lead-role in a cage?
How I wish, how I wish you were here
We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl, year after year
Running over the same old ground.
What have we found? The same old fears
Wish you were here
 >>

 


<< It's about Syd Barrett, one of the original members of the band, who eventually went looney. >>



Yep, it's about Syd. The whole album is about Syd. Syd "went looney" because he was doing a lot of drugs. He left because during some performances he would just stand up there and not play or sing.
 


<< Yep, it's about Syd. The whole album is about Syd. Syd "went looney" because he was doing a lot of drugs. He left because during some performances he would just stand up there and not play or sing. >>



He also did things like untune his guitar before the performace and played pieces backwards perfectly. Needless to say this didn't make for a great stage appearance.
 
After I saw the first post I was all ready to tell you it (and the whole album) are about Syd Barrett... but unfortunately I was beaten to the punch by about ten people. Too slow...

Excellent album, yes?

l2c
 


<< Shine on You Crazy Diamond >>




Yeah, that ones about him too. Apperantly he was an extremely talented musician and song writer...sad...
 
To them it might have been about Syd, but to me it means something else. The song, from my viewpoint, is about life. The first "stanza" is asking the question "can you really tell what is going on?" Who really knows what is right or wrong? Can you tell truth from illusion?

The second part is asks "Have you exchanged the hardships of life for the comfort of ignorance?" Did you give up on trying? Have you stopped being a person because it was to hard to deal with life? Do you conform, give in, so as to not have to face a challenge? And what are you if you do these things? Not really a person anymore... merely a creature locked in a cage.

And the third (How I wish, how I wish you were here) is a plea for help as you realize that you are lost in a cyclical way of life, repeating the same actions every day (though perhaps with variation enough that you hadn't realized it before). That you find yourself forward to the same goal, though you have or could have reached it already.

This is what it means to me.
 


<< To them it might have been about Syd, but to me it means something else >>



Ain't that the great thing about music, means something different to everyone, yet music provides comfort in a "common experience"

/end corniness
 


<< After I saw the first post I was all ready to tell you it (and the whole album) are about Syd Barrett... but unfortunately I was beaten to the punch by about ten people. Too slow... >>


Exactly....
 
ok, I wondered about Syd, the madman
makes sense




<< And did you exchange a walk on part in the war
for a lead-role in a cage? >>



is there anything special about this line, or is it just metaphor?
 
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